[2003-01-08-NWA-TNA] America's Most Wanted vs. Slash & Brian Lee

[Chess Knight]

Asked a friend for an old TNA rec so she gave me this, and it was exactly the kind of under-the-radar thing I wanted. Like damn did NWA TNA actually have tag matches that felt like NWA tag matches? Watching this in a vacuum I'd almost be fooled into thinking they were actually, quality-wise, a great competitor/alternative to WWE at the time. First few minutes are spent brawling out of the ring with low blows and wire chokes and concrete suplexes, with AMW ultimately losing the upperhand they had with a Michinoku Driver on the ramp by Slash. They work a pretty classic FIP following that and Slash & Lee (in a group called The Disciples of...whatever, I forget, look it up) mix up their offense pretty creatively. Slash (who is Wolfie D btw) has some really cool running headbutts/shoulder tackles, and at one point just kind of steps all over Storm with both boots. Storm's best chance came when hitting an enzuigiri to Slash, but Slash actually swings left and accidentally (!?) headbutts the ref in the fucking stomach, leading to the ref being blind to the hot tag. What a weird and cool little spot. Harris has the ref accidentally (!) distracted because of that and Lee levels Storm with the belt outside. The finish stretch is stuffed with tons of kick outs and a chair and POWDER and BELT WHIPPING and a SPIKE and interference and the ref just straight up not doing his job and I thought it dragged a bit but not enough to complain about it. Super fun tag, good enough that there's a sick part of me that believe a Best of TNA list/poll would actually be an enjoyable endeavour.